708 Ldters, Exlracts, and Notefi. 



The Undulatory Fliyht of Humming-Birds. — Mr. Eobcrt 

 C. Murphy, of the Brooklyn Museum, New York, sends the 

 following account of some observations made by him on the 

 migration flight of Humming-Birds in the West Indies : — 



"During the summer of 1912 I spent several weeks on 

 ship-board in the vicinity of Dominica and Martinique, 

 West Indies, and in the s'rait between the two islands there 

 were several opportunities for observing the flight of a 

 Humming-Bird (which I believe to have been Sericotes 

 ho'osericeus) under unusual and favourable conditions. 



The flrst instance was on July 14ch. At noon w'e lay 

 midway in the strait, about nine miles from either island. 

 The north-east trade-w^ind was blowing strongly, bringing 

 frequent showers of rain, hence I was rather surprised to 

 see a Humming-Bird pass, flying across the wind and in the 

 direction of Martinique. On the afternoon of the same day 

 a second flew by close to the ship. Both of these birds 

 were flying about twelve feet above the water. In the early 

 morning of July ITth, I saw a third, thirty or forty feet up 

 in ihe air, and this time only about two miles from Dominica, 

 toward which the bird was heading. On July 22nd, in calm 

 uea:her, when we were not less than seven miles off" the 

 Martinique coast, a fourth hummer approached and seemed 

 about to alight in our rigging, but suddenly veered and 

 made ofl' in the direction of Dominica. On the 24tli a fifth 

 was seen, flying only a few inches above a calm sea. The 

 next day, Avlien we were probably fifteen miles off" the wind- 

 ward coast of Dominica, the nearest land, the sixtli passed 

 us, and, finally, on July 28th, when the trades were so 

 strong that we were tacking under reefed sails, the seventh 

 Humming-Bird flew vigorously past in the teeth of the 

 wind. 



The noteworthy feature as regards all of these Humming- 

 Birds, aside from the obvious fact that they habitually make 

 reckless journeys over a sea much given to squalls, was tlie 

 undulatory character of their flight. In their natural habitat 

 ashore, birds of this same genus, as well as other Trochilidce, 

 appear to me to fly from one point to another, in an almost 



